EFROIM MAX ROBINSON, APPELLANT,
v.
ELIZABETH MALIK, APPELLEE

Fla. 3d DCA | 1959-11-19
No. 59-534
PEARSON and CARROLL, CHAS., JJ., concur.
115 So. 2d 702 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (1959) Positive Treatment
Cited by 8 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.


Holding

A cross claim seeking affirmative relief based on equities arising from a cotenancy is permissible in a partition suit, and an alleged executed oral agreement to make a will is not rendered unenforceable by statute, pending proof.


Facts & Procedural History

Appellant sued for partition of property. Appellee filed a cross claim alleging the deed under which appellant claimed ownership was invalid due to ap…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
HORTON, Chief Judge.

HORTON, Chief Judge.

This is an interlocutory appeal from an order in chancery denying the appellant’s motions to strike and to dismiss a cross claim filed by appellee in a suit to partition real and personal property. The cross claim in substance alleged the invalidity of the deed under which appellant, by his complaint, sought partition. The ground of the invalidity claimed was the alleged false representation of the appellant that he would, in consideration of appellee’s services to him as a practical nurse and her conveyance to him of an undivided one-half interest in her home, make a last will and testament leaving all his worldly possessions to the appellee; that appellee conveyed the real property as agreed, took the appellant into her home to live, rendered him practical nursing services and in every way performed the terms of their oral agreement; that notwithstanding her compliance with the agreement, the appellant had breached said agreement by cancelling a former will which left everything to ap-pellee, by removing her name from certain *703bank deposits and depriving her of the use of a jointly owned automobile. Appellee prayed for a cancellation of the conveyance of the real property, compensation for her services as a practical nurse, fair compensation as rental for the use of her home, and the right of either party to purchase the interest of the other in the automobile upon a determination of its fair market value.

The appellant’s motion to strike was upon the sole ground that the matters and things alleged were not proper subject matter of a cross claim, whereas the motion to dismiss urged the ground of failure to state a cause of action. The chancellor denied both motions and this appeal followed.

Basically, the appellant seeks reversal upon two grounds, i. e., (1) that a cross claim does not lie in a partition suit, and (2) that oral agreements to make a will of real or personal property are unenforceable under the provisions of § 731.051, Fla.Stat., F.S.A.

Under the first ground, the appellant relies upon the case of Koon v. Koon, 55 Fla. 834, 46 So. 633, 635, wherein the Supreme Court of Florida said:

“It would seem that as a general rule a cross-bill in a partition suit is neither necessary nor proper.”

There appears to be no statutory prohibition against the filing of a cross claim or an answer seeking affirmative relief in a partition action. The foregoing principle in the Koon case, as a general proposition, is sound, but as subsequently applied by the Supreme Court of Florida under circumstances in particular cases, it demonstrates the exceptions thereto. The facts of the Koon case clearly point up the application of the general rule. In that case one of the defendants, by cross bill, sought to bring before the court property and parties different from those in the bill of complaint.

In Farrell v. Forest Inv. Co., 73 Fla. 191, 74 So. 216, 221, 1 A.L.R. 25, the Supreme Court was confronted with a bill of complaint praying for the partition of land, accounting between partners, the establishment of a resulting trust and the surcharging of a partnership account. In disposing of an objection that the bill was multifarious, the court said:

“Those questions arose out of the relations existing between complainant and defendant at the time when the im cidents occurred giving rise to the differences between them. * * * The accounting prayed for in this transaction of the defendant was the other matter concerning which complainant asked relief. It was incident to the .main purpose of the bill, and grew out of the relations of the parties as coten-ants of the lands sought to be partitioned.” (Emphasis supplied.)

See also Gracy v. Fielding, 71 Fla. 1, 70 So. 625; Lovett v. Lovett, 93 Fla. 611, 112 So. 768, 777; Miller v. Griffin, 99 Fla. 976, 128 So. 416, 419; Williams v. Ricou, 143 Fla. 360, 196 So. 667, 669; Garrett v. Potter, 160 Fla. 707, 36 So.2d 374, 375; Potter v. Garrett, Fla.1951, 52 So.2d 115; and Burney v. Dedge, Fla. 1952, 56 So.2d 715. Although appellee may have improperly designated her pleading as a cross claim, nevertheless it alleged equities and transactions between the parties that grew out of the establishment of the cotenancy in the real property and as such furnishes a basis for the chancellor to determine all the issues arising from those transactions.

The appellant’s second ground urges the unenforceability of the contract by reason of the provisions of § 731.051, supra. The allegations of appellee’s pleading is that “during the summer of 1956,” her services as a practical nurse, etc., were requested by the appellant and “the said plaintiff and cross defendant, Efroim Max Robinson, did agree and promise to pay defendant and cross plaintiff for her services in the manner hereinafter stated, * * There followed the terms of the alleged agreement, her alleged compliance therewith by the rendition of services to appellant, and *704the transfer of her real property to their joint names. Whether appellee can prove by competent evidence the allegations of her claims is beside the point. The question is' whether under the allegations of her pleadings, that an executed contract existed between the parties, the provisions of § 731.051, supra, would render the same unenforceable. We do not think they would. The constitutionality of this statute is not before us. Therefore, we conclude that the contract as alleged is not affected by the provisions thereof. See Keith v. Culp, Fla.App.1959, 111 So.2d 278, 280.

Concluding as we have that the chancellor was correct in denying the appellant’s motions to strike and to dismiss, it follows that the order appealed from should be and it is hereby affirmed.

Affirmed.

PEARSON and CARROLL, CHAS., JJ., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Efroim Max Robinson v. Malik, 135 So. 2d 445 (Fla. 3d DCA 1961)
    …and cross-claim for damages in the nature of compensation due her for services rendered to the plaintiff, and suit to quiet title to the property involved, which pleadings were reviewed and approved by this court in Robinson v. Malik, Fla.App.1959, 115 So. 2d 702. Thereafter, on final hearing, the plaintiff adduced evidence to support his complaint but did not offer any evidence in defense of the cross-claim, awaiting the cross-claimant going forward with her proof. The defendant then proceeded on proof of h…
  • Efroim Max Robinson v. Malik, 164 So. 2d 19 (Fla. 3d DCA 1964)
    …CARROLL, Judge. This is the third appeal in this case. See Robinson v. Malik, Fla.App.1959, 115 So. 2d 702, and Robinson v. Malik, Fla. App.1961, 135 So. 2d 445. The present appeal is taken by the plaintiff below from the final decree. The suit was commenced by Efroim Robinson against Elizabeth Malik for partition of certain residence premises and an au…
  • Boyle v. Schmitt, 578 So. 2d 367 (Fla. 3d DCA 1991)
    …to make a will may be set aside by the donee beneficiary of the will contract where, as alleged herein, the transfer is made with the fraudulent intent to defeat the donee beneficiary’s rights under the terms of the will contract, Robinson v. Malik, 115 So. 2d 702 (Fla. 3d DCA 1959); Tontz v. Heath, 20 Ill.2d 286, 170 N.E. 2d 153 (1960); Dubin v. Wise, 41 Ill.App.3d 132, 354 N.E. 2d 403 (App.Ct.1976); Schwartz v. Horn, 31 N.Y.2d 275, 338 N.Y.S.2d 613, 290 N.E. 2d 816 (1972); Dickinson v. Lane, 193 N.Y. 18, 85…

Previewing 3 of 4 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw